One of the best reasons to skate

scratching pool coping makes my day.

Gonz Musashi Deck

Okay this one is one of my all time favorites. It's a Krooked Gonz Musashi deck. Miyamoto Musashi was an master swordsman in Japan from the 1600's. I'm not going to give you a history lesson here but just the mere fact that Gonz knew who Musashi was gives me that much more respect for him. In the drawing Musashi is depicted doing what is known as "Happo Biraki" or open on all 8 sides. Above Musashi it says Background music by Tom Waits, "I'm Big in Japan". Fucking ill.

Bo Ikeda RHPS

I'm pretty sure you may have seen this board before but I wanted to comment a little about it. It's a guest model from the dudes at Royal Hawaiian Pool Service. The funny thing about this is that I talked to Bo about it (yeah I know name dropping again) and he confirmed that this cat graphic was never one of his original board graphics. After thinking about it I don't remember seeing in on a board. He said it was only stickers and ads in magazines. I remember the graphics of his Vision decks like that rocket one and the other one which was a poem that if you took the first letter from each word it spelt "I fingerbanged your mom." He said the dudes at Vision initially didn't know, but when they figured it out they pulled the plug on it. He said one of his roomates at the time created the poem.

I think Bo got short changed when it came to graphics. I mean I think it sucked that when he was about to turn pro for Hosoi they parted ways with Santa Cruz and went to start Tuff Skates with Vision. I remember seeing in magazines his Santa Cruz graphics that Jim Phillips drew. I think it was of a donkey sitting on an 8 ball but the 8 said Bo instead. It would have been fucking sick. I think a lot of boards could have been sold. Then he went over to Vision which to me was not nearly on the same page as Santa Cruz when it came to graphics.

Anyway this is a sick board and it's funny that it says disappear-reappear because the Hosoi board previous to this one said appear-reapper. However this Bo board came out in 2007 and the Hosoi deck just came out this year. Both of them refering to the stellar comebacks that they made in skateboarding. The Zatoichi reference is that to an old tv show of a blind man who on the surface seems harmless, but could slice you up in an instant with his sword skills.

Hosoi/Gonz Collab

I was just talking to Jef Hartsel (Yeah I know I'm name dropping fuck off) about this board the other day. By the way Jef just got a guest model from Element which will be releasing soon. Anyway it got me thinking that I should post some of my boards that are sitting in my closet or hanging on my wall. I'm not a huge board collector by any means, but I will shell out my funds if I dig the dude who's board it is and/or the graphic itself is sick. When I saw this board I just had to get it. First of all it's Hosoi. I mean come on. I don't need to explain shit. Second it's graphics by the Gonz. Do I need to go further? Okay I will. If you look at the graphics on this board you'll notice the obvious Rising Sun in the background but below where it says appear, reappear it's the old Alva graphics in black. Also the shape is similar to that old fish shape from his old Alva board. So Jef said to him looks more like an Alva board and I have to agree. Fitting since the both Hosoi and Gonz rode for Alva. If you didn't know Hartsel did too. All this and it's a silk screened board not that heat transfer shit. Oh yeah Jef I'll be waiting for that Element deck.

High Speed Hi Death

Kyle Yanagimoto got his own deal going.  Sick boards.  Check out the site. 

The Skate Nazi has left the Building!

Catch his new manifesto here.

http://theskatenazi.blogspot.com/